Polymer modulators have become very popular in the current technology boom. Polymer photonics technology with customized core and cladding layers provides a number of significant advantages over the prior art. Among the many advantages, some of the most significant are that it allows efficient 3-layer modulators with high performance (multi GHz) and very-low voltage operation to allow direct-drive (DDPM) without the need for using a drive circuit. However, present day prior art 3-layer polymer modulators are not direct-drive modulators.
Much of the recent work on polymer modulators has been focused on Si-organic-hybrids (SOH) often referred to as Si slot modulators. These prior art modulators exhibit very small Vn-L products due to their short length (˜1 mm) and high single-layer r33 coefficients. Due to the fact that only an electro-optic (EO) polymer is used in the structure, the poling is efficient and the single-layer r33 (value achieved in a Teng-Man measurement) is also achieved in the device. This is contrasted with a typical 3-layer modulator (cladding/core/cladding) where the poling is inefficient due to the voltage division among the three layers (see FIGS. 1 and 2 below). Typically, dielectric breakdown occurs in the cladding before complete poling can be accomplished in the core.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved direct-drive polymer modulator.
It is another object of the present invention to provide new and improved methods of fabricating direct-drive polymer modulators and materials therefor.
It is another object of the present invention to integrate the new and improved direct-drive polymer modulator on a common platform with a monolithic laser formed in/on the platform.